‘Template communities’ popular with home buyers

Whisper Dunes is a new “model home” community that allows buyers to select different floor plans for their homes.

Patti Blake | The News Herald

By VALERIE GARMAN | The News Herald

Published: Tuesday, July 22, 2014 at 08:11 PM.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — A normal housing market is a good housing market for local developers.

“It’s just been a matter of getting back on track economically,” said Matt Brandman, president of Bay County building company Samuel Taylor Homes. “By no means is everything going nuts and crazy, but we’re building consistently and we’re selling consistently. It’s a more normalized market, and normal is good.”

Samuel Taylor Homes recently began developing new lots in Whisper Dunes on the west end of Panama City Beach, and Brandman said the result so far has been positive.

The company is in the process of developing 21 lots, with about 13 homes already under construction. In total, Samuel Taylor Homes plans to develop 129 single-family “template” homes in the community, in which customers are sold a home/lot package with seven floor plans and different upgrades from which to choose. Prices range from $239,900 to around $280,000.

“With us, I finance it all until we close, so it’s a pretty turnkey process,” said Brandman, who also builds template homes in the St. Joe Co. development Breakfast Point. “We’re growing our business because we feel like there’s a need for this kind of product.”

And the demand for “template communities” isn’t limited to the beach.

Bay County building official Larry Carnley said D.R. Horton, the country’s largest homebuilder, is the busiest building company in the unincorporated areas of Bay County.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — A normal housing market is a good housing market for local developers.

“It’s just been a matter of getting back on track economically,” said Matt Brandman, president of Bay County building company Samuel Taylor Homes. “By no means is everything going nuts and crazy, but we’re building consistently and we’re selling consistently. It’s a more normalized market, and normal is good.”

Samuel Taylor Homes recently began developing new lots in Whisper Dunes on the west end of Panama City Beach, and Brandman said the result so far has been positive.

The company is in the process of developing 21 lots, with about 13 homes already under construction. In total, Samuel Taylor Homes plans to develop 129 single-family “template” homes in the community, in which customers are sold a home/lot package with seven floor plans and different upgrades from which to choose. Prices range from $239,900 to around $280,000.

“With us, I finance it all until we close, so it’s a pretty turnkey process,” said Brandman, who also builds template homes in the St. Joe Co. development Breakfast Point. “We’re growing our business because we feel like there’s a need for this kind of product.”

And the demand for “template communities” isn’t limited to the beach.

Bay County building official Larry Carnley said D.R. Horton, the country’s largest homebuilder, is the busiest building company in the unincorporated areas of Bay County.

“D.R. Horton is the number one builder in town as far as homes,” Carnley said, adding that residential building also has seen a rise overall. “Everything has picked up quite a bit.”

The Bay County building department has issued 207 single-family permits so far in 2014, compared with 152 at this time last year and 108 in the same timeframe in 2012.

‘Tremendous possibility’

Rick Koehnemann of KoehnemannBay

“I think we’re kind of on the crux of something good happening in Bay County,” Koehnemann said. “There’s tremendous possibility out there, if just a few things would click.”

During his 36 years in home building, KoehnemannPanama City

However, plans for the 700-acre SweetBay development are underway at the site of the old Panama City-Bay County International Airport site.

“Panama City itself has been kind of dormant, but there’s not a lot of areas for development,” Koehnemann said. “Panama City itself is pretty optimistic that SweetBay is going to create some positive growth.”

Keith Hodges, a real estate agent at Counts Oakes Real Estate and president of the Bay County Association of Realtors, agreed Panama City has somewhat lost its luster over the last several years. Overall, Panama City properties are selling for about 10 to 15 percent cheaper than those on the beach, he said.

“As development spreads, as the mall on [U.S.] 231 has grown so largely and is now shrinking, just like downtown has shrunk, a lot of that has moved over to the beach gradually,” Hodges said. “The expansion is here coming from Walton County into Bay County and coming from in town out onto the beach.”

As far as new construction goes, Hodges said neighborhoods like Whisper Dunes and Breakfast Point have been popular on the beach for several years, citing older developments like Palm Bay and Palmetto Trace as using the same format.

“There are people that want all the bells and whistles, and they want to pay $200,000 to $300,000,” Hodges said. “It’s new and people like new.”

But buying a home in good condition in Panama City Beach for under $200,000, Hodges said, is almost impossible.

By pricing his three-bedroom, two-bathroom “spec homes” between $189,000 and $199,000, Counts Oakes real estate agent Bubba McCants said a sale is almost guaranteed before the house is finished.

“It’s tough to get in a brand new house on the beach for under $200,000, so ours are priced that way,” McCants said. “People would always rather have brand new than pre-owned.”